Boston Marathon 2013

Item Information

Title:
Boston Marathon 2013
Creator:
Dale
Date:
April 15, 2013
Format:
Documents
Genre:
texts (documents)
Location:
Northeastern University Library
Collection (local):
Our Marathon
Series:
Public submissions
Subjects:
Boston Marathon Bombing, Boston, Mass., 2013
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Link to Item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20264612
Terms of Use:
Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Requests for permission to publish material should be addressed to Northeastern University Library's Digital Scholarship Group (dsg@neu.edu).
Contact host institution for more information.
Language:
English
Notes:
Submission text: We were staying at the Lenox Hotel and had driven to Hopkinton in the morning as we usually do for the start of the Marathon. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining the smell of spring in the air. It was Sue's 11th running and my Partner Joe's 3rd running of the Marathon. We did our usual pre-marathon laughs and rituals and then it got close to start time. Joe's fast so he was in the first wave of runners. His knee had been bothering him during training so he looked a bit more nervous about his run than usual. I encouraged him and kissed him good luck as the clock ticked closer to the start. I always cry during the national anthem so prepared for the music to start, while I watch Joe looking more pensive than normal before the race. The race started and I ran back to our vehicle to wait for Sue to get started. She was in wave 2 so we waited for wave 2 to start filling the corals and then headed off so we could try to see Joe at Mile 6. Remember he is fast so we have it all timed out to try to see him at mile 6. We hit traffic but missed Joe at Mile 6. I was tracking him on my IPad and saw he was doing well. His pace was better than usual. We waited and saw Sue and then ran for the car to get to mile 14 before Joe got there. We always ring the cowbell for runners at mile 14. We got to 14 in time to see Joe and then waited to see Sue before trying to get back to the finish line in time to see Joe finish. Traffic was heavy getting back into Boston. We knew we would not be able to park at the Lenox and planned to park at the Marriott and run to the finish line in time to see Joe finish. We were close but didn't make it there in time. I could see on my IPad that he had finished so I went to the lobby of the Lenox to wait for him. As runners were coming into the Lobby everyone in the lobby was cheering for each runner. The excitement and celebration was moving. I waited and waited for Joe and then finally, I saw his tired face and body walk through the door. I ran to kiss him and he cried and held each other. Another Boston Marathon successfully finished. We went to our room and got some water and Joe washed his sweat salted face. I started tracking Sue and saw she was about 10 minutes out. We ran to the window but had just missed her finish. I told Joe we needed to be in the lobby waiting for her like I had been waiting for him. So we went back to the lobby and waited for Sue. Her partner had gone towards the Family meeting area to see if she could find her. That is when the first bomb went off. At first I thought it might have been a transformer since remembering the Super Bowl in New Orleans and how they had overloaded the grid. Then we saw people running and the doormen coming into the hotel yelling that a bomb had gone off. Just then the second bomb went off. Joe and I ran into the bar with no windows and hide low near some tables. I remember thinking, Oh my God, we are under attack. The only other time I had felt that is when the second plane flew into the Second Tower as we watch it on TV. I told Joe, we need to find Sue and Fran. The door men told us stay inside. We tried calling Fran but the phones were overloaded with people trying to call loved ones. We tried texting them, nothing. We tried calling again, nothing. I told Joe to call his Mom as she would see the Breaking News and being elderly we needed to let her know we were OK. We got a call out to Joe's Mom letting her know we were safe and during the call we got a text from Fran saying they were OK and almost to the hotel. It's hard to describe the emotions we had when Sue and Fran came walking into the Hotel Lobby. Instead of the celebration of Joe's finishing the Marathon or Sue finishing the Marathon we celebrated the fact that we were all OK. We hugged and cried and told each other that we were staying together until we figured out what to do. We went up to Sue and Fran's room and looked out the window towards the finish line. We saw way too much. We saw the people helping the injured and emergency response teams responding. I think we were all in a state of shock. I can remember staying get away from the windows stay away from the windows. What seems like a few minutes went by and over the hotel PA system we hear an announcement, please turn off all cell phones, the police want all cell phones turned off. No sooner did that announcement come and we heard alarms going off in the hotel and the PA announcement saying Evacuate the Hotel NOW. Evacuate the Hotel now. Five seconds later and a police officer was knocking on the hotel room door. Evacuate now. We immediately left the hotel and all of our belonging. They told us to go to the Westin Hotel and they would let us know what to do. We followed a long line of police officers and military personal to the Westin Hotel. We got to the Westin and asked what we were supposed to do and were encouraged that we were safe and that word would come soon on what do to next. We found a place to sit in the lobby on the floor. Key spots were close to electrical outlets to keep cell phones and IPad charged as people were texting to find out if we were ok. Someone text, post something on Facebook to let people know you are ok. I am not much of a poster on Facebook but glad I did. We sat in the lobby all day, still in marathon clothes, non-showered hearing stories and talking to people that had not heard from their loved ones. A lot of the people around us were also staying at the Lenox so we became like a small community of Lenox Hotel refugees. We comforted each other and the feeling of community built fast as we waited and listened for news on what do we do next. We finally heard that we were not going to be going back to the Lenox Hotel that night and then started to think about where we were going to sleep. We continued talking to family as we got bits and pieces of news that all seemed so far from the truth. You can imagine how hungry we go sitting all day waiting for news. We decided we better try to get some food as we waited for instructions from the authorities. We were thankful that the hotel restaurant still had some food. All of the streets surrounding the hotel were closed so no one was coming in or going out. Military personal walk by and we started feeling like victims, lucky to be alive but our minds starting to be able to think again. We were lucky to get rooms that night at the Westin and settled in our room. None of our belongings but at least we had a bed and some toiletries given to us by the hotel. We looked out our window and could see our room at the Lenox. We could see the light on thinking we wouldn't be going back to turn it off. We tried to sleep but didn't get much. In the morning we started thinking about getting home. We watched the news and the airport was open then closed then opened. All we wanted to do was get home. We found out around 9 AM that we could go get our things at the Lenox. So we went back. It was such a strange feeling. The room exactly like we had left it. The lights on the bathroom fan running and our stuff. We cried and hugged the staff as we were leaving. Thanking them for all they had done. That afternoon we headed to the airport. We stopped and talked with several people with Boston Marathon Jackets on and then headed to our flight. All the way home to the west coast we watched TV hearing that noise over and over again. We are so happy to be back in Boston today as we prepare to run again. Boston Strong !!
Crowdsourced submission originally received via the Our Marathon "Share Your Story" page.
Notes (historical):
Contributor Name: Dale; Contributor Age: 55; Contributor Race: white; Contributor Gender: male; Current Location: 97229